Planning

Sometimes a pure agile approach is not appropriate for a particular project — the important thing is getting the work done, not strict adherence to a process. Still, a non-agile project can benefit from the inherent values of agile, including strong team collaboration, prioritized, incremental development, and regular progress assessment and adaptation.

A project failure is seldom caused by unknown or mysterious factors. In fact, failure is often predictable based on symptoms and warning signs. And it can be prevented by following a disciplined approach to recovery. Here, an experienced project recovery specialist shares his methodology for fixing a failing initiative.

Frustrated by project charter meetings that feature overly textual, often generic descriptions of what the team can expect and how to accomplish it, a project manager applied the agile concept of User Stories to better describe project interactions and inject more real-world meaning into a kickoff document.

Disaster recovery plans focus on getting the day-to-day business running smoothly again, but they often fail to address the equally important need to preserve mission critical initiatives within the project portfolio. Here are five steps for applying crisis management at the project level.

The work breakdown structure is a critical element of the project plan, yet many project managers have difficulty creating an adequate WBS, or even understanding how it can help them. Here is an overview of what a WBS is, and the work that goes into it — you might call it a WBS of a WBS.

Free to teams up to 30 people, a new collaboration and task management tool allows each team member to prioritize and create tasks needed to complete delivery. Here’s a look at how it can be used on a distributed Agile project, from product backlog to release to detailed iteration planning.

It is important to define your project’s technical architecture early in the process, with input from the team. This includes all the hardware, software and other technologies your project requires. It will need to be flexible, but the sooner you get it right, the better off your budget and schedule will be.

A strong resource planning process contributes to PMO and portfolio productivity. At the annual Resource Planning Summit, practitioners gather to share insights, approaches and results.

Changing an iconic product can be perilous. Think New Coke. But sometimes change is necessary. From assessing the business case to implementation, here is a look at how a manufacturing giant used a fundamental project management approach to minimize risk when it sought to modify its most popular products.

When planning a sprint, many factors will influence what works best, particularly the experience of the team in self-organizing. Here are some guidelines that can help project leaders focus the planning effort — without taking it over — and a few techniques to engage everyone and establish a shared vision.